Electronic commerce orders have increased dramatically in recent years and have grown in importance for many businesses. In the case of complex high-dollar electronic-commerce orders that are made by corporations, it is not uncommon to have such orders entered by a single buyer that is operating a computer. For these transactions, it is very important to make sure that the buyer can quickly and efficiently complete the transaction.
Many of the customer's problems in electronic commerce transactions relate to delays within the network between the customer's computer and the electronic commerce provider's site. More particularly, for communications that are coupled over the Internet, the communications must typically be routed through one or more Internet Service Providers (ISP). Often, communications must be routed through multiple Internet service providers, the customer's Internet service provider and the electronic commerce provider's Internet service provider. In addition, communications are often routed through various third-party ISPs.
Once requests for data are received at the electronic commerce provider's site, the requests are processed so as to obtain a response. Processing of requests so as to provide a response introduces an additional source of potential delays. These delays can occur as a result of transport delays within the electronic commerce provider's network, delays in processing the request, delays in database access, etc. Typically orders are processed using one or more server that configures the products and services according to the customer's needs. The server then processes the order such that the customer can order the previously configured products and/or services.
An exact measure of a customer's electronic-commerce experience is only achievable by an invasive application that resides on the customer's computing device and that directly measures the customer's experience. However, most customers will not allow such invasive programs to be installed on their computing devices. Moreover, such programs only indicate the extent of the problem experienced by the customer. They do not provide the necessary tools for determining the root-cause of the problem experienced by the customer.
What is needed is a way to isolate the root-cause of performance problems in electronic commerce transactions that does not require any monitoring agent on the customer's premises. Also, what is needed is a method and apparatus that meets the above need and that provides for monitoring of delays within the communication network between the customer and the electronic commerce provider's site. In addition, what is needed is a method and apparatus that meets the above needs and that provides for monitoring of delays in processing requests once they are received at the electronic commerce provider's site. Also, a method and apparatus is needed that meets the above needs and that gives meaningful analysis of measured delays so as to allow for easily determining the cause of performance problems. The present invention meets the above needs.